Google Introduces New Display Ad Tracking

In an effort to help marketers better measure their display ad audience, Google unveiled a new way to track potential online viewers. The technology can track whether or not a display ad is actually viewable, based largely on the ad’s page position. That means if an ad is at the bottom of a webpage, it will many times not be considered realistically viewable. According to Google, advertisers will benefit by only paying for an ad if at least 50% of it is viewable for one second or more.

“A big focus for us is making digital ads work for brand advertisers,” said Andrea Faville, a PR executive at Google.

The Internet firm – which has a display network of about two million websites – still won’t be able to confirm if someone saw an online ad. In that way, the new tracking won’t be much different than television, radio or print media that offer ads that can be flipped past or tuned out. Still, Google believes this technology is a positive step as marketers try to get more data about the effectiveness of online ads.

“This is just one model advertisers can choose,” Faville said. “Our goal is to help make digital work as well for brands as it has for performance advertisers.”

While traditional advertising, especially print, has struggled to produce revenue in recent years, display advertising has grown rapidly. In the last four years, the market for online display ads has increased from $14 billion to $24 billion worldwide.